What if I really like the idea of employee ownership, rewarding the employees who have helped me grow my business and be successful really sounds attractive to me, but an ESOP is just not the right fit.  Perhaps my company is to small, or the fees to establish the ESOP are to high, or there are questions on the ability to pay down the dept.  Am I stuck? Are there no other opportunities to share my success with my employees?

Yes – there are other opportunities!  Have you thought of or considered establishing a Co-Op?

As defined by SBA, a cooperative is a business or organization owned by and operated for the benefit of those using its services. Profits and earnings generated by the cooperative are distributed among the members, also known as user-owners. Typically, an elected board of directors and officers run the cooperative while regular members have voting power to control the direction of the cooperative. Members can become part of the cooperative by purchasing shares, though the amount of shares they hold does not affect the weight of their vote.

Okay this sounds great but where can I go to get more Information?  You are in luck as Indianapolis is the home of the Indiana Cooperative Development Center.  The ICDC like the INdiana Center for Employee Ownership is an Indiana non-profit organized to promote employee ownership and democracy in the workplace only from a cooperative perspective vs an ESOP perspective.  The IDCD helps develop and launch cooperative organizations in Indiana.  The ICDC provides innovative, results-oriented, and cost-effective services to cooperatives and related organizations.  Have a question on Coops?  Contact IDCD at  info@icdc.coop.